I have 11 years of complete Topps Baseball sets, from 1969-1980, which I plan to save. They have sat nicely for 35 years in shoeboxes in my parent's chilly basement-- without any damage, etc.

In the near future I plan to pull, conditionally grade, and place each card in a plastic sleeve (not multi-card pages, but individual sleeves)-- However I am having reservations about the cards sticking to the plastic if the humidity in the basement changes or I move them to another storage site.

When you say shoe boxes do you mean actual shoe boxes? If yes you should look into some actual stargaze boxes and sleeves would be good for the cards. I would suggest finding a new place to keep them too, basements are subject to bad humidity and chance of mold and mildew.

You could use the shoebox style card boxes, that may suit what you want to do. They are far sturdier than the regular shoe boxes you are using. You can fit a complete Topps set from those years in a row, there are two rows per box. The rows are wide enough to fit graded cards, so putting cards in sleeves in that type box would not be an issue.

(03-13-2012 11:55 AM)scottzoe Wrote: You could use the shoebox style card boxes, that may suit what you want to do. They are far sturdier than the regular shoe boxes you are using. You can fit a complete Topps set from those years in a row, there are two rows per box. The rows are wide enough to fit graded cards, so putting cards in sleeves in that type box would not be an issue.

Scott

Check this out: http://www.blowoutcards.com/index.php?ma...th=118_135 and see if any of those fits your needs.
Plus, I believe that card sleeves will further protect your raw cards (vintage or modern) from damage and degeneration. I have all my raw cards in card sleeves or thick card sleeves and top loaders. I also use team bags and (some of them are in magnetic holders) graded card sleeves to further protect the rigid holders of my cards from scratches. Finally, I use the two row boxes and the graded card boxes.

The big problem with NOT using sleeves is the way the cards rub against each other, this will cause the surfaces of the cards to deteriorate fast. Also, over time some product will stick together if it is slightly compressed together, I found that out the hard way with all of my 1989 Upper Deck commons.

I would say if you have time, at the very least penny sleeve all of them(it's cheap) and throw the stars in a penny sleeve and top loader. If you want to be real anal about the condition use the team bags that seal too, I did that for all of my higher end stuff.